Yielded and Free

to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. I’ve given you context in weeks
past that essentially the people that Peter is writing to here
in the first century church were those who were experiencing perhaps
the greatest and most severe persecution that the church has
ever faced. It was certainly the worst that
the church had faced up till then. And there are very few
episodes in the life of the church that even rival what these first
century Christians were facing and due to face as persecution
heated up. Part of the problem that the
first century church faced was a government that was suspicious
of Christianity. They were suspicious of Christ.
They were very suspicious of the Jews and primarily because
the Jews were so antagonistic to the governments to which they
were subjected. that you had this very uncomfortable
tension for a number of years. Even still, in our own day, we
wrestle with these questions about the role of government
and the relationship of the church and government. We’ve heard much
in our day and age about the separation of church and state,
right? That is the mantra that the world
echoes, in essence, to keep not only the church, but really any
kind of biblical direction out of the public sphere. They don’t want to be forced
to deal with some of the principles from God’s Word. That’s the bottom
line. And so this ongoing saying that is repeated at every opportunity,
the need of the separation of the church and state. Let me
tell you where that whole thing came from just briefly. Essentially,
it deals with the question of can we work with, can we cooperate
with civil government? These are questions that the
church really, from the first century forward, even to our
own day, has wrestled with. Are we always to be subject to
civil government? Are the church and state religion
and government, are they therefore necessarily separate entities?
Is government evil? Periods in the church have believed
that the government, being what it is, is necessarily evil. And so Christians are to have
nothing to do with it. Well, the church and state do
represent two different kingdoms. Each of those kingdoms have authority
and each of those authorities have limitations. And God has
placed those limitations on himself. The church is to instruct and
to hold people morally accountable. The government is to establish
and uphold the law. And in both cases, too much power
in either hands tends to corrupt, and we’ve seen it just as well
from heathen nations as we have from supposedly Christian ones.
So if there is to be this separation between church and state, how
should I view my citizenship as a Christian? with the civil
government. As I said, this separation of
church and state, a current view, but it is a wrong understanding
of the First Amendment. Settlers had come into the country
seeking religious freedom, not concerned, rather, about securing
liberty so much for others, but for themselves. That was first
and foremost their stated objective. One characterized their purpose
in these terms. He said their goal was to establish
a state church that was more to their liking than that which
they left in England. And so the church was to be a
foundational element in this new world, in this new government.
Following the War of Independence, there were 13 states, each with
different religious influences. Some were almost exclusively
one as over against another. And that’s why you had this flocking
tendency in the 13 states. You had Anglican states and Puritan
states, congregational states, Presbyterian, Quakers, Baptists
and Roman Catholics. The states didn’t want the federal
government dictating to them which denomination was correct. And the result was the First
Amendment, which reads that Congress shall make no law respecting
an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise
thereof. Essentially, the establishment,
they didn’t want a state church. In other words, everybody is
going to everybody must be Baptist, they didn’t want that at all.
What they wanted was a free exercise according to conscience. The
word separation and church and state aren’t even mentioned in
that First Amendment. The first to mention that was
13 years later, a man named Thomas Jefferson, 13 years after the
First Amendment, and he was speaking to the Danbury Baptists. And
what he said to them by way of encouragement was that there
was a wall that protected the church from state influence and
not the state from church influence. Is that clear? In fact, the day
after Congress passed the First Amendment, they called on the
president to declare a day of public thanksgiving and prayer.
I mean, try that one today. Try that one. But we’ve heard
it repeated so many times, this separation between church and
state, that we believe it and we’ve fallen right into line,
yielding our right and a responsibility of involvement and influence
in our government to the point where we don’t even want to bring
up those precious truths to which we hold. We’ve acquiesced to
what the world wants in a hard and final separation between
the church and state. And so the question remains,
how involved should we be? And there have been commonly
two extremes. There have been those that believe that, you
know, we must bring Christ back by reforming this world. And
they take religion, they take politics so seriously and they
put all their hope in politics. And then there have been those
on the opposite end of the spectrum that want to have nothing to
do with it. There’s absolutely no use for
human government. And it’s almost an anarchist
position. And so with regards to civil
government, what should be our role? What is our responsibility?
What is our response? How do we live? The bottom line,
we are to be model citizens. It wasn’t just what the first
century church was facing. We face it in this day. Christians
operating at two extremes with regards to human government,
some putting too much stock, too much hope in it, thereby
neglecting the hopeful and the subtle influence of the gospel.
They put all their influence in changing political law and
they forget about the price that Christ paid for souls. And the opposite error to disdain
and to repudiate human government to the degree where it’s inherently
evil and thus to be essentially be viewed as a subversive is
a badge of honor. Those are the two poles. That
was the context that the first century church was in. There
was this perceived tendency that Christianity was inherently disloyal
to government, subversive, treasonous. One person characterized in these
terms, he said, Christians were not only reputed to be innovators
in religion, but disturbers of the state. It was highly necessary,
therefore, that the apostle should settle the rules and measures
of obedience to the civil magistrate. That was the goal here in Peter
writing this particular passage. One pastor entitled this section
Christians and the duties of citizenship. I went with a little
more liberty here when I called it yielded and free. There is
a tension here. There is an intended play on
words, almost, that we are to be subject and yet free. If you would, I want to take
you to the passage itself, specifically beginning in verse 13 of chapter
2. where Peter wrote to these troubled
first century saints, submit yourselves. And if you know me, I’m going
to pause right there. If you know me, you know that
I’m a simple sentence guy. And I will tell you that for
the next three chapters, almost everything fits under these two
words. Submit yourselves. That’s the simple sentence. That’s
the command that’s given. And everything over the next
two to three chapters hangs underneath this great command. And specifically,
the words that immediately follow, submit yourselves for the Lord’s
sake to every human institution, whether to a king is the one
in authority or to governance governors is sent by him for
the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.
For such is the will of God that by doing right, you may silence
the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men and do not use
your freedom as covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves
of God. Honor all men, love the brotherhood,
fear God, honor the king. Now, I suggested to you, let
me take you to your bulletin. This isn’t what I do all the
time, but let me just give you a thumbnail sketch of the immediate
passage. And then I want to go back to
the passage and back to your Bibles and give you an overarching
view of what is to follow. What I’ve called this section
is yielded and free a life of godly subjection. This isn’t
just a subservience that is almost slavish in character, where we
just, against our will, are forced into subjection. That’s not it
at all. We are free and it is a yieldedness that we give up. It is a willing yieldedness to
be subjected. And as I said, those things seem
to be contradictory in most people’s minds. In this first section,
what we want to look at is the specific command of godly subjection. In verse 16, we’ll look at the
guiding principle of godly subjection. And in verse 17, we’ll look at
the broad application of godly subjection. And we’ll probably
not get to all of that today. I want to go back into the passage
just briefly. Because I’ve suggested to you
that everything for at least the next two chapters hangs distinctly
under these two words. Submit yourselves. As the passage courses through,
everything certainly there in verses 13 through 17 fits neatly
under that command. But if you look at it, look at
verse 18. All Peter does here in verse 18 is apply it to a
specific group, servants. Servants, be submissive to your
masters with all respect. And then, and this is going to
get me all kinds of popularity points, chapter 3, verse 1. In the same way, you wives, be
submissive to your own husbands. Here comes some points back in
my direction. Verse 7, you husbands likewise. And what I believe Peter means
by that is exactly what Paul meant by it in Ephesians 5. That
there is a kind of subjection that a husband renders to his
wife. Not ultimate, but there is a peaceableness, a love, a
harmony that is there for the wife. That’s why he says likewise. In case he missed anybody, I
mean, generally you fit into one of these three categories,
in fact, more than one. Usually you’re either a servant
of somebody in some capacity or you are a woman, perhaps a
wife. Or a husband. And if you don’t
fit into one of those particular categories, Paul has some things
to or Peter has some things to say. Anyway, and in that sense,
he catches everybody with his command in verse eight. To sum
up, let all just in case you thought you might escape from
this command of subjection, let all be harmonious, sympathetic,
brotherly, kind hearted. And what he does is paint there
a graphic picture of what godly subjection looks like. Now, that’s
where we’ll go. I don’t have any prediction on
how fast we’ll get there. But that’s essentially the structure
of this passage. The words before us are at the
very tip. Submit yourselves. The word there
is a military word implying rank and order. And he says that if
there essentially is someone above you in authority, that
you are to submit yourselves to them, to subject yourself
to them. It literally means to arrange
information under the commander. The duty required here, said
one, is submission which comprises loyalty and reverence to their
persons, obedience to their just laws and commands, and subjection
to legal penalties. We submit ourselves wholly to
them. Even to this ungodly government? Yes. As we’ll see in a moment. This isn’t a new command. In
fact, it’s not even a command that is exclusive to Peter. This
is a command that’s repeated throughout Scripture, even by
Christ himself. Render to Caesar that which is
Caesar’s. Essentially, what Peter and Paul
and others are doing is just advancing or elucidating the
clear command that was given there by Christ, that there is
a role that human government plays and that we are to subject
ourselves to it. Titus chapter three, verse one.
I took you there several weeks ago. Titus there was told to
remind his church, remind those in his care to be subject to
rulers, to authorities. This was the first step in building
a testimony, a witness in their community was to be submissive
to their earthly governments. And this was radical. Because
for Jews, they, having grown up in a theocracy, believed that
any human government was an intrusion onto God’s plan. And in that
sense, what Jesus said, rendered to Caesar, that which is Caesar’s,
was shocking to them. Remember? They couldn’t fathom
that now they were to be subject to earthly government because
God was their King. Or was He? The order is shaken up here. And things are not the way they
thought. There is a pattern of submission
in Scripture, and it should be comforting to us. to see how
replete the command is in the New Testament. As Christians,
we are to submit to one another, Ephesians 5.21, wives to their
husbands, Ephesians 5.22 and others. The church is subject
to Christ. No great surprise. Ephesians
5, 24, bond slaves are to submit to their masters. Titus 2, 9,
1 Peter 2, 18. I remember sharing with you some
of you I’ve even given a copy. There were a series of verses. that I printed out and pasted
on the inside of my locker. Because I had one of these bosses.
I mean, you know the kind. The kind with the veins that
pop out on the neck and issue all kinds of not-so-veiled threats
and all kinds of ridiculous commands. And every day I had to walk in
and remind myself the purpose of subjection. 1 Peter 5. Young men are to submit to elders. Perhaps the the overarching parallel
passage, in addition to Titus chapter three, would be Romans
chapter 13. Some of the verses, some of the
words are used are identical, even the thoughts and the purpose
is given. And so for that reason, I want to have you turn to Romans
13 just for a few moments. You see, the tendency is when
you read, submit yourselves in our academic minds, we might
find a way to reason or wiggle our way out of that, that perhaps
we don’t fit into any of those areas. And so we might be able
to escape this command, submit yourselves. And so in looking
at Romans 13, perhaps it will help with that escape tactic. Look at verse one. Every person. Maybe it’s. Maybe it’s not that
way in your Bible. But in the translation that I’m
reading from every person in a letter that literally means
their every soul. Every soul is to be in subjection
to the governing authorities. And it doesn’t spell out exactly
who those are, because depending on who the soul is and who those
are in authority over him or her, there is great latitude. Every
person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities,
for there is no authority except from God. I mean, try that one the next
time you say, I don’t need to listen to you. Try that one the next time you
say, oh, you’re just a fool. You know, you got this position
only because, you know, you were in good with the boss. There
is no authority except from God and those which exist are established
by God. You mean God put my boss in his
position? In some way, for some purpose,
yes. And the authority that is there
is there by God’s command. Therefore, whoever resists authorities
oppose the ordinance of God and they who have opposed will receive
condemnation upon themselves of various kinds. You might get
written up if you want to, you know, if you want to live in
some kind of repudiation of your boss’s authority,
you’re going to pay the price sooner or later. Obedience. to our bosses is commanded obedience
to authority, obedience to the law of the land, obedience to
our earthly governors. They who have opposed it will
receive a just condemnation upon themselves. Now, get this. Look at verse three. For rulers
are not a cause of fear for good behavior. I mean, isn’t that
true? Whenever you’re driving down
I-25 and you see the bluish gray car behind you with the lights
on top of it, You’re pretty sure that the potential of him pulling
you over and giving you a medal of honor for good driving is
probably not real likely, right? Rulers are not a cause of fear
for good behavior. If you’re doing what you’re supposed
to be doing, if you’re driving a speed limit and obeying the
traffic laws and you’ve got your seatbelt buckled, you have no
reason to be afraid, really. Do you want to have no fear of
authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the
same. Maybe they will pull you over and give you a medal. For
it is a minister of God to you for good. Now, pause right there.
Do you hear what Paul says here in Romans? The government is
a minister. I think I’ve told you before,
it’s not a title that I prefer in the ministry. I don’t prefer
to be called a minister, but it’s a simple title. It just
means a servant. The government is a servant in
God’s hand for good. It is a minister of God to you
for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid, for it does
not bear the sword for nothing, for it is a minister of God.
An avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. We’ll
come back to that in a moment. But everyone, every soul is commanded
by God to be subject to the existing powers wherever the means by
which they came to be possessed by the one in authority. We’re
not to challenge how they got there. We’re not to say, as the
bumper sticker does, don’t blame me. I voted for so-and-so. That’s
not our argument. It’s not our argument. One pastor
said that as citizens of heaven, Christians submit wholly to divine
authority. When you submit to your ornery
and earthly boss, ultimately you are subjecting yourself to
a sovereign God who put in there. As citizens of heaven, Christians
submit wholly to divine authority, but the potential misapplication
of the truth is that they can become indifferent and even disdainful
toward the world in which they live. Although they are not ultimately
under human authority, God still expects believers to submit to
the human institutions he ordained. Christians should promote the
welfare of their society and government by waiting for their
eternal home. There’s nothing wrong for looking
forward to what lies ahead. But don’t forget where you are.
Don’t forget that this is here by God’s design and that you,
as one of the population of souls that he speaks to here in Romans
and here in 1 Peter, you are called to godly subjection. And let’s press on with this.
I suggested here, under the heading, the specific
command of godly subjection, that there are elements of godly
subjection. What is it made of? What does
it look like? What is this godly subjection
like? First of all, let’s consider
the divine recipient of our subjection. the divine recipient of our subjection. Look at this. In verse 13, I’m
in Peter. Where are you? 1 Peter 2. In 1 Peter 2, Peter says, submit
yourselves for the Lord’s sake. What? He says here that ultimately
Christ Himself is the benefactor of our submission. Christ is
the one that’s going to reap the blessing. Christ is the one
that’s going to get the glory from our submission to this earthly
boss. The Lord deserves so much more
from us, doesn’t He? As we looked at worship here
several weeks ago, we looked at giving Him and laying out
for Him as priests everything, beginning with our lives. Is
it too much then? Can any earthly authority be
too bad to submit ourselves to when Christ is so great and so
worthy? It isn’t just because the Lord
ordained Caesar. It isn’t just because the Lord
ordained the president or the mayor of your town. It isn’t
just because he ordained the policeman under whose authority
you are, but because the Lord’s life is one of obedience. We
are patterning ourself after him. Remember, Christ, I mean, of
all things in Scripture that seem out of place, here’s Christ
submitting himself to Pilate respectfully. And on top of that, Christ commanded
his people to obey. And because he didn’t want his
people to bring dishonor to the name of Christ by their unruly
behavior, he says, submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake. It’s Jesus
who is going to get the credit and the glory of your earthly
submission. It’s not that you’re going to
be pushed down to the point that you’re nothing. And boy, if that’s
the attitude that you go into it with, you lose to begin with.
Your attitude should be one that, like everything else in Scripture,
do all to the glory of God. Even the way that I relate to
my earthly boss, even there. Even this unbelieving heathen
that sits as the ruler of our town, even him. Peter says here that the motivation
for submitting to authority for the Lord’s sake
essentially makes it an obligation for Christians, doesn’t it? Shouldn’t
it? Christians obey because they
want to honor the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that we do
is for Him and for His glory. Believers are supposed to obey
this earthly government, these earthly authorities in order
to honor their Lord Jesus Christ. That doesn’t mean that you can’t,
if it’s legal, protest. It certainly doesn’t mean that
you can’t vote your conscience. It certainly doesn’t mean that
you can’t write letters to the editor. It doesn’t mean that
you can’t be involved. It just means ultimately you
are subject and willfully so to the earthly government under which you come. There’s a second point here.
A second element of godly subjection. Not only the divine recipient
who is Christ, but the divine delegates. The divine delegates
of our godly submission. And this makes it so much easier. Look at what Peter says, submit
yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution. We need to pause. Right there,
because this word institution, it is literally the word where
we get our word creation from. All human institutions that are
set up with the purpose in mind of maintaining order in the world
that God created, that’s what’s in mind here. This word is used
in Romans 1.20 of the act of creation. These are created institutions,
human in nature. That’s the sphere in which they
operate. The word there for creation always occurs in the New Testament
context in reference to God creating. God has created all these foundations. God has created the institutions,
the networks, the infrastructure, if you will,
work and and the institution, the basic building block of society,
the family. Peter calls it a human society
here, not to point to its derivation, not to say who originated it.
It’s not like we came up with the idea of the family. God created
that. But to its function or sphere
of operation, that’s where this government is operating. That’s
where these societies, if you will, operate. And we are to
be subject or we are to submit ourselves to every one of them,
to every human institution. The old confessions took this
very seriously, this whole idea I love the way our confession
says it. God, the Supreme Lord and King
of all the world. I mean, what argument do you
have with that? I mean, you might as well just quit right there.
Give up. Cement yourselves. Right. God, the Supreme Lord
and King of all the world, has ordained governing authorities
to be under him over the people for his own glory and the public
good. What a great, succinct way to
say it. God did it. God ordained it. He put them there and He did
it for His own good. They are beneath Him and yet
they are over the people. And they are for their own good. John Calvin said it this way
in a society that was in literal upheaval. Calvin said these sensible
words, civil government has as it’s appointed in so long as
we live among men to cherish and protect the outward worship
of God. Now, you might look at this society
and say that that’s couldn’t be any further from the truth.
But look at the freedoms that you enjoy to be here on a Sunday
morning, the freedoms to live as you want and a sense to worship
as you want. Civil government has as its appointed
end, so long as we live among men, to cherish and protect the
outward worship of God, to defend our sound doctrine and piety
and the position of the church, to adjust our life to the society
of men, to form our social behavior, to civil righteousness, to reconcile
with one another and to promote general peace and tranquility. That’s the purpose of government. Government is a part of God’s
merciful provision for fallen humanity, providing order and
the restraint of evil. Remember the sword? We’ll come
back to the sword. No human authority essentially
can exist except by the gift of God. God put them there. And that’s hard to grasp and
hard to believe and hard to live under. But it’s true. And Scripture
says it quite clearly. One concluded that it is the
duty, therefore, of subjects to obey their rulers because
they are appointed and ordained by God. What could be simpler? Consider a few scriptures. Daniel
2.21 It is he who changes and it’s speaking of God here. It
is he who changes the times and the epochs. He removes kings
and establishes kings. I guess it’s true then. Job 12.23,
He makes the nations great, then He destroys them. He enlarges
the nations and then leads them away all according to His sovereign
purpose. God put them there. Psalm 75,
God is the judge. He puts down one and exalts another. And it’s always according to
His plan. It’s not because they’re better than someone or more righteous. One Puritan characterized and
challenged in these particular words when he said that this
is a thing that the greatest and most absolute of princes
cannot deny. That in all their authority,
that all their authority is dependent upon the great God, both as the
author of it in general and the sovereign disposer of it to particular
men, giving the kingdoms of earth to whom he will. I’ll never forget
the day in the orange box when the new boss came to town. Right. And everybody hated him.
Everybody hated him. And I wasn’t trying to play,
you know, his favorite, but he was my boss. That’s what my locker
said. Right. And so I just kept doing
what he wanted me to do until one day he asked me why. And
I shocked him. I shocked him because I told
him that God put him there. In the final analysis, people,
the governing authorities owe their authority not to people,
but to God to whom they are responsible for all their actions. What a
radical thing that we would do in our world if we began to tell
our bosses, we began to tell our elected officials, God put
you there. You better do it right because
he’s watching. He’s the foundation. He’s the one that put them there.
He is the initiator of every foundation or institute of man,
the state, the household, the family. And he encompasses in
this human government, the three basic functions of human government,
quite simple, to restrain evil, to promote good and to punish
crimes. That’s what government is there
for and failure to do so is a mark of bad government. And God deals
with bad government. Look at later on in verse 13
here. Submit yourselves for the Lord’s
sake to every human institution, and then he begins to characterize
it and he doesn’t give a comprehensive list here. Whether to a king, this is one
option, whether to a king is one in authority or to governors.
Either one of those are options, particular potential areas where
we may be called to be in submission. The bottom line here is that.
Even though order is a divine command, all of those special
kinds of government councils and kings, monarchs are just
means of God carrying out his design in the world. for the
welfare of society, for the good of society, for the good of mankind.
National, local, president, governor, mayor, policemen, laws, household,
family, all of those things are under God’s sphere of control. One pastor says, yes, even your
ungodly boss. One pastor said even unreasonable,
harsh, evil rulers, oppressive systems are far better than anarchy. I mean, imagine if there was
no law. I mean, what this world we probably
wouldn’t even survive the night, would we? And all forms of government
from dictatorships to democracies are filled with evil because
they are led by fallen sinners. I remember we were talking and
wrestling, debating about church government, right? Now, this
is before I arrived at the perfect church government. But anyway,
we were debating about church government and I’ll never forget
this thing. And this is a guy who had a very distinct opinion
about what particular government the church should operate with.
But he said this, he said, any form of church government will
work if the people are godly. And if the people are not godly
people, no form of church government will work. And it’s the same
way in society. Godly people can function in
any governing system, even under a dictatorship. Christians can
live. One characterized this principle
that any that even a dictatorship is better than anarchy. He said
it this way. So the wrath of the king is like
the roaring of a lion. He may destroy some. But the madness of the people
is as the raging of the tempestuous sea. When it is burst its bounds,
it overwhelms all. There’s no check to it. There’s
no there’s no way of restraining what is called anarchy. And yet
is the tendency. It is the tendency of mankind,
isn’t it? So Scripture here, even when
it points out that we are to be in subjection, even to a king,
it points out that the one man rule is a legitimate form of
government. I’m glad that we don’t have it,
but I would be called to subjection if I were in Britain. So Scripture recognizes that
monarchy or its parallel, even a dictatorship is a form that
God uses in the world. He just does. It doesn’t mean
that it’s ideal. Romans 13, verse 1, “…let every
person be in subjection to the governing authorities, for there
is no authority except from God.” Whatever the authority is, God
put it there. And look at verse 14, and we’ll
close. “…whether to a king as the
one in authority, or to governors as sent by him…” That is, sent
by the king. “…for the punishment of evildoers
and the praise of those who do right.” That’s why God gave government. And you know what? Punishment
here isn’t even a strong enough word. It’s not like they’re going
to get hauled into the room and slapped on the wrist. Don’t do
that anymore, okay? It’s not it at all. It’s vengeance. It’s
revenge. And government has been given
by God the sword to carry out vengeance for evil behavior. Take you back in your mind’s
eye to Romans. Therefore, he who has resist authorities oppose
the ordinance of God and they who have opposed will receive
a just condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of
fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do what is good and you
will have praise for the same, for it is a minister of God to
you for good. But if you do what is evil, be
afraid for it does not bear the sword for nothing. It’s not just
for show. It’s not just tucked into the
sheath there as an idle threat. Christians are forbidden to take
vengeance into their own hands. There is not to be this vigilante
justice, this posse gathering and going and executing justice
upon some neighbor of yours. That role is for the government
and that is its specific role. The punishment of evil doers.
And secondly, the praise of those who do right when you say, well,
you know, when was the last time that I got pulled over by the
state patrol and given a certificate? They won’t do it. When was the
last time the mayor came and said, gee, thanks for picking
up all the leaves in your yard. They’re not going to do it. It’s
one of these things where no news is good news. They let you
drive on the highway. And if you drive good, they let
you continue to drive on the highway. They let you live in
this fair city, unmolested and undisturbed. The authorities
generally reward good citizenship with fair and favorable treatment,
said one. But the role of government is
clear. To create a fear that restrains evil and to punish
those who do wrong and to protect those who do right. And so I ask you, what is your
role with government? We’ll pick up with the remainder
of that next week. What is your role? Yours is to
submit. It’s a godly submission to earthly
authority, to those in the church, to those in the home, to those
at the office, to those in the city, to those in the country.
We are called to a God honoring submission, a godly submission
for Christ’s sake. Let’s pray. Our Lord and our God, we pause
and bow before you and humble ourselves before you and acknowledge
that you are the great and mighty God. Lord, to think that you
created all of these earthly institutions And then on top
of that, you placed Christ as over all. You call us in this
earthly walk to submit to those authorities that you have placed.
Lord, while we find it difficult, we’ll find new vigor to call
out to you for grace, to be subjected to these. Lord, we thank you
and praise you. We pray these things in Jesus
name. Amen.